I listed some equipment today to sell on EBAY. Something I haven’t done in a loooong time.
I was astonished at how clunky and buggy their ad listing interface was.
One would think that it would be easier to give your money to EBAY than to Google AdWords or Facebook.
Nope.
EBAY’s listing interface crashed over and over again; gave me blank page errors; then after it crashed, dumped garbage code into the text descriptions of my posts.
A very cumbersome experience.
EBAY, how much is this costing you? And how much does this hinder from people who would otherwise sell stuff on EBAY to make money?
At least their chat person was very friendly – here’s the thread:
perrymarshall
17:21 PM
Ebay interface for posting items is extremely buggy. Crashes, gives errors, junk code in my listings.
First time I ve ever used it to sell on ebay in a LONG time and your management needs to know
Preston
17:22 PM
Hello! My name is Preston with eBay Customer Service; I am here to help you with your questions. May I have your first name?
perrymarshall
17:22 PM
http://screencast.com/t/RtvQIvAKKKC
perrymarshall
17:22 PM
Perry Marshall
Preston
17:23 PM
Thank you for your name Perry. I apologize that you have been seeing that error as you’ve tried to list.
perrymarshall
17:24 PM
This has happened multiple times
perrymarshall
17:24 PM
That is the error I get when I try to save my listing. And then when I go back into it I find a bunch of garbag code in the description that wasn’t there before
perrymarshall
17:25 PM
I have some specific feedback would you please pass this to your management
Preston
17:25 PM
I myself have been seeing the access denied error myself, but I have seen the code that is included in the description. Do you happen to have a copy of the code? I would like to pass that on to them as well
perrymarshall
17:26 PM
<script>if (typeof(lpcurruser) == ‘undefined’) lpcurruser = ”; if (document.getElementById(‘lpcurruserelt’) && document.getElementById(‘lpcurruserelt’).value != ”) { lpcurruser = document.getElementById(‘lpcurruserelt’).value; document.getElementById(‘l…….
Preston
17:26 PM
I’m more than happy to pass on any feedback to them. Thank you for the code, I will include it.
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
I’ve written best selling books on Google AdWords and Facebook advertising
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
https://www.amazon.com/Perry-Marshall/e/B00535HVIG/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1473459818&sr=8-2-ent
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
Ebay competes head to head with Amazon and to a lesser degree, Google AdWords and Facebook ads
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
It is a lot easier to post a FB ad than sell an item on ebay
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
This is costing Ebay and shareholders lots of money
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
And the problems aren’t trivial.
perrymarshall
17:28 PM
I can stumble through this and make it work, I don’t really need you to “help” me
perrymarshall
17:28 PM
but in 2016 a multi-billion dollar company with this many problems in your web interface is a very serious problem for your company
perrymarshall
17:29 PM
One might expect this for a startup with limited funds and the owner programming the site all by himself or whatever. But not for a Fortune 500 company.
Preston
17:30 PM
Thank you for your feedback regarding it. I do apologize that the site has continued to give you errors as you’ve tried to list, and I will make sure they see your comments regarding the status of the listing form and its process.
perrymarshall
17:31 PM
Thank you very much. I know working at a big company has its headaches but you really need to make sure this makes it higher up in the company.
perrymarshall
17:31 PM
not just your supervisor etc.
Preston
17:31 PM
I understand. I will be pushing it through to the proper teams. I want them to see it themselves.
perrymarshall
17:32 PM
:^) would it help if I posted this convo on my blog? I have 30,000 followers on Twitter
Preston
17:33 PM
You’re more than welcome to if you feel it is needed.
perrymarshall
17:21 PM
Ebay interface for posting items is extremely buggy. Crashes, gives errors, junk code in my listings. First time I ve ever used it to sell on ebay in a LONG time and your management needs to know
Preston
17:22 PM
Hello! My name is Preston with eBay Customer Service; I am here to help you with your questions. May I have your first name?
perrymarshall
17:22 PM
http://screencast.com/t/RtvQIvAKKKC
perrymarshall
17:22 PM
Perry Marshall
Preston
17:23 PM
Thank you for your name Perry. I apologize that you have been seeing that error as you’ve tried to list.
perrymarshall
17:24 PM
This has happened multiple times
perrymarshall
17:24 PM
That is the error I get when I try to save my listing. And then when I go back into it I find a bunch of garbag code in the description that wasn’t there before
perrymarshall
17:25 PM
I have some specific feedback would you please pass this to your management
Preston
17:25 PM
I myself have been seeing the access denied error myself, but I have seen the code that is included in the description. Do you happen to have a copy of the code? I would like to pass that on to them as well
perrymarshall
17:26 PM
<script>if (typeof(lpcurruser) == ‘undefined’) lpcurruser = ”; if (document.getElementById(‘lpcurruserelt’) && document.getElementById(‘lpcurruserelt’).value != ”) { lpcurruser = document.getElementById(‘lpcurruserelt’).value; document.getElementById(‘l
Preston
17:26 PM
I’m more than happy to pass on any feedback to them. Thank you for the code, I will include it.
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
I’ve written best selling books on Google AdWords and Facebook advertising
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
https://www.amazon.com/Perry-Marshall/e/B00535HVIG/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1473459818&sr=8-2-ent
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
Ebay competes head to head with Amazon and to a lesser degree, Google AdWords and Facebook ads
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
It is a lot easier to post a FB ad than sell an item on ebay
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
This is costing Ebay and shareholders lots of money
perrymarshall
17:27 PM
And the problems aren’t trivial.
perrymarshall
17:28 PM
I can stumble through this and make it work, I don’t really need you to “help” me
perrymarshall
17:28 PM
but in 2016 a multi-billion dollar company with this many problems in your web interface is a very serious problem for your company
perrymarshall
17:29 PM
One might expect this for a startup with limited funds and the owner programming the site all by himself or whatever. But not for a Fortune 500 company.
Preston
17:30 PM
Thank you for your feedback regarding it. I do apologize that the site has continued to give you errors as you’ve tried to list, and I will make sure they see your comments regarding the status of the listing form and its process.
perrymarshall
17:31 PM
Thank you very much. I know working at a big company has its headaches but you really need to make sure this makes it higher up in the company.
perrymarshall
17:31 PM
not just your supervisor etc.
Preston
17:31 PM
I understand. I will be pushing it through to the proper teams. I want them to see it themselves.
perrymarshall
17:32 PM
:^) would it help if I posted this convo on my blog? I have 30,000 followers on Twitter
Preston
17:33 PM
You’re more than welcome to if you feel it is needed.
Preston
17:37 PM
I do hope it helps. I will be sending it to them after our chat has ended.
perrymarshall
17:37 PM
If you hang on I’ll give you the URL of my blog post in a minute
Preston
17:39 PM
Sure thing.
Preston
17:44 PM
I hope it is being agreeable.
perrymarshall
17:45 PM
https://www.perrymarshall.com/45402/memo-to-ebay/
Preston
17:46 PM
May I include this in my message to them as well?
perrymarshall
17:49 PM
Oh please do so. Honestly the CEO should see this. If I was running EBAY and I knew about this, I’d be furious.
Preston
17:50 PM
Thank you. I will happily include it with the message.
perrymarshall
17:50 PM
Seriously ecommerce etc is my profession and this is costing your company a truckload of money.
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
6 Comments on “Memo to EBAY and shareholders: Your $100 million problem”
I quit using them, it took a month to pay me, they wanted to make sure I was legit I guess, even though I have had a PayPal account for many years…….FAIL
Sounds like an opportunity here.
The real problem here is that Ebay doesn’t have to listen. So, when I face the same problem with PerryMarshall.com, what does that tell me about modern business practices?
“Access Denied” – you hit a wall.
I’ve hit your wall, haven’t I?
You prove my point about big businesses: they can only look after their profitable clients. Are they using the wrong metrics when determining 80-20?
How can a company determine what the correct metrics are?
Good morning, Perry.
I read this last night – not the entire conversation, it’s one that I’ve had with a good number of call agents – and even the occasional businessman. Not that it did me any good, not that it did them any good. Not because I knew what I was doing…
… it’s because they don’t.
Which is, if you will forgive me, where you make your mistake here. I describe the situation you found yourself in as “Hitting The Wall”. It’s easier for women to do because men don’t respect us in the way they will a man. This has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with appearance. To them a well dressed man in a large car is to be respected and everything else demonstrates a lack of success. The problem here, as you are well aware is that this didn’t necessarily need any intelligence. Your driving a Toyota is an immediate challenge to such thinking, because it says ‘if you’re intelligent, you’ll recognize intelligence when you meet it, anywhere you meet it’.
Success is not a linear result of power. The key to 80-20 is that reality isn’t push —> shove. That only happens when there’s no more value than the thing itself; add real, human value and the whole applecart is overturned and chaos ensues… unless of course, you know how to handle chaos and see the 60-40 or 99-1 curves appearing as if by magic because of the way passers by run to catch the apples.
The problem here is that if you are so dumb – deluded – as to think push=shove, then the world turns on this assumption and your business gets hammered. The successful ones will continue in their own sweet way, stacking the pile higher and making less profit than they did before and they will call this success because they don’t know any different (and can’t be told. I’ve tried it, and it’s called the ‘Wall’). The result is that you reach the point where Google Adwords only serves the big corporations because that’s where their profits come from – who are too stupid to know what Adwords is all about. But then, it’s notable that Google doesn’t get it either – something you’ve mentioned on no few occasions. You know the secret to a system, Perry; it’s not to tweak the system, it’s what you put into it, and find out who’s interested.
My point is that Ebay is serving the customers who make it the most money.
That is to say, the people who make tiny amounts of money by selling vast amounts of stuff and do so by tweaking the system. A friend of mine who has a store on eBay has ten thousand adverts… and can barely scratch a living from that. If you want to make money on eBay, it has to be automated, and that is where your problem begins.
The customer interface is irrelevant here. Ebay’s profits from the man in the street are perhaps 0,01% – much in the way Google’s profits never came from the likes of you and I. Even here on your site there are automated systems on offer to keep one’s Adwords ads ‘efficient’… for all the fact they could be 3x (30x) as efficient with a decent landing page! The problem is finding intelligent people who respond to such things, when most are simply grazing for the cheapest… in other words, they’re looking for a supermarket option, not the service option (the place where people make real money).
In short, eBay doesn’t need a customer interface. Because its biggest customers use software that overrides all that…
This is funny, I listed a a few clothing items on Ebay last weekend in the UK, wouldn’t allow Buy It Now on one item even though I have 1k feedback and 100% feedback. Then on a t-shirt I listed, it just crashed every time. Ended up not listing that in the end. In all it took almost an afternoon faffing about, taking phone pictures uploading to Google Drive etc (app wasn’t cutting it for listing)
I said to my wife “This is ridiculous, listing stuff on Ebay is such a ball ache”
This of course, results in my subconscious in the future saying “Nah, can’t be arsed” when I consider listing something in the future over the years when I forget this time. Millions lost in potential commision that they never see.